Sad Songs - The Rev. Philip DeVaul

Sermons from the Episcopal Church of the Redeemer

Do I like being sad? No, not really. Nobody likes being sad, right? We all prefer if we could just be happy and joyful and not experience any sorrow. We know that we don't want to suffer at all. Sad songs don't actually make you sad, okay? Sad songs are wonderful because they allow you a space for your sadness that already exists. It allows a place for your sadness to be. One of the things that happens with us when we're suffering, when we're in pain, when we're in sorrow, is we turn sort of inward and we feel like we're all alone. There's a deep loneliness in being sad. There's this sense that there's just us, there's nobody else, no one, and we've all had this riff, like no one has ever felt the way that I feel right now. I feel that like once a week, but you can't listen to music and feel that way because you can say, oh, I'm not the only one. And then you hear a song that sings this, and you go, oh, I'm not alone in it. I'm not the only one who's ever felt this way. I am not alone. I think that's a great gift. I think it's a great gift for us when we are suffering, when we are sad, when we are overcome, it is a great gift for us to be reminded that we are not the only ones who have ever felt this way.